Ancient culture. Abstract: Ancient culture

The era of ancient culture begins with the formation of Greek city-states - “city-states” in the lands of Hellas and Asia Minor in the 11th-20th centuries BC and ends with the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. e. In Greece and Rome during this era, livestock breeding, agriculture, handicrafts, and trade developed intensively. Income inequality among families is growing. Thanks to the widespread use of slave labor, the family nobility accumulates wealth, and this leads to a struggle for power. Social life is unstable, which is expressed in social conflicts, wars, and political upheavals.

The concept of “ancient world” (from the Latin apglcish - ancient) was introduced by Italian humanists of the Renaissance, who used this term to call Greco-Roman culture as the earliest known to them by that time. This name has survived to this day, although more ancient cultures have been discovered. The concept of "ancient world" is used as a common synonym classical culture, that is, the world where our European civilization arose.

The history of the ancient era is divided into two phases - Greek and Roman antiquity. The state system created in Greece was special - according to the scale of the country and in accordance with the habits of its inhabitants - it consisted of small city-states, within the boundaries determined by nature and clan organization.

The social conditions of these city-states can be called democratic only with major amendments. In the era of the highest development of Athens (5th century BC), out of more than two hundred thousand inhabitants of this city, only twenty-one thousand, that is, one tenth, could actually enjoy full civil and political rights. Social structure A society based on slavery cannot be considered a society of equality and freedom. Nevertheless, in comparison with eastern despotisms, such a structure was still progressive in Greece: the struggle between the lower and higher strata of slave-owning society led to the defeat of the tribal aristocracy and the destruction of the individual dictatorship of rulers (tyrants) and, ultimately, to the establishment of slave-owning democracy. Served by slaves, free citizens enjoyed the benefits of life in what they viewed as orderly, small states.

These states were formed around cities, which became their economic and cultural centers. A citizen of such a city-state (“polis”) felt truly independent.

Throughout time, ancient culture has had a mythological character, absorbing and processing disparate tribal myths, uniting them into a single religious-mythological system. Already in the VIII - VII centuries BC. e. in the poems of Homer “Iliad” and “Odyssey” and Hesiod “Theogony” and “Works and Days” this system takes on the form in which it becomes the basis of the entire ancient worldview. Greek classical art also arose on the basis of mythology.

Main areas Greek culture become philosophy and art, which grow out of mythology and use its images. But over time, they acquire a different meaningful meaning that goes beyond mythology. Philosophical thinking, unlike mythological thinking, tries to explain reality through rational, logical judgment, and not through the narrative nature of an artistic image, the reliability of which from the very beginning is beyond any doubt. The means of philosophical judgment are not visual images and emotions, but abstract concepts. In contrast to mythology, philosophy clearly separates facts and logical conclusions from unsubstantiated fictions and predictions.

The first ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, having posed the question about the fundamental principle of all things, began to look for the answer not in the action of the gods, but in logical generalizations of facts. This enabled him to conclude that the primary principle is water. Subsequently, this question received a different solution from Anaximenes and Anaximander, from the Pythagoreans and Elliates, from Heraclitus, Anaxagoras and Democritus, from Plato and Aristotle. But increasingly, Greek philosophers use facts and inferences rather than mythology to substantiate their thoughts (which does not prevent them from formalizing their thoughts in images of mythological language). Simultaneously with philosophy, which already in Ancient Greece received autonomous independence from mythology, the initial forms also developed scientific knowledge- astronomy, mathematics, medicine. Socrates returned Greek philosophy to the study of the human soul. The pinnacle of Greek philosophy were the teachings of Plato and Aristotle, in which philosophers tried to combine unified system ideas about the world, society, man, truth, goodness and beauty.

The art of ancient Greece, like philosophy, was based on mythology and drew its themes and plots from it. Works of art acquire their own aesthetic value, which is determined not by their religious purpose, but artistic values. Art becomes an independent area of ​​culture, a sphere of activity aimed at satisfying aesthetic needs. In it, architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative and applied art arise and are differentiated as its special types. lyric poem, drama, theater.

Characteristic features of art:

> the creators of ancient culture were the ancient Greeks, who called themselves Hellenes and their country Hellas. Greek art developed under the influence of three very different cultural movements: Aegean, Dorian, and Oriental.

But it was only preparatory stage Greek art, which demonstrated some kind of norm, some kind of basis. The full ideal of this art began to emerge later, at a new stage in the development of ancient Greek society;

> the basis of Greek art was mythology. The fundamental difference between ancient culture and the culture of Egypt, Mesopotamia or Scythia stems from the very nature of Greek mythology, which was later borrowed by the Romans, only renamed in their own way.

Like any other, Greek mythology represents the artistic creativity of the people; it embodied the mysterious forces of nature in concrete images. Greek poetry, and primarily the Homeric epic, gave folk legends complete narrative character.

The mythological legends of Hellas, on the basis of which Greek art developed, in a completely different way than the myths that arose in other parts, represented man in the struggle for triumph over nature. Greek mythology marks the end of the forces, the elements of nature, that have power over man. He, a man, accepts nature as it is, he fights dangers and secrets as best he can, but does not try to defeat these forces with witchcraft, magic, or slavish deification of idols.

Life for a Hellenic is a struggle, and after life comes death, but life is not only a struggle, the main thing in life is joy. And joy gives rise to a smile. Greek art is marked by the calm smile of human joy. So, Greek mythology created gods who embodied in beautiful human images the passions and dreams by which the world lives;

> If the ancient Greek perceived nature not in its unsolved mysteries, but in its visible objective reality, his art had to become realistic. The artistic creativity of Hellas for the first time in the history of the world established realism as the absolute norm of art. But realism does not lie in the exact copying of nature, but in the completion of what nature could not or did not have time to complete. So, art needs to create such perfection that nature only began, but could not achieve itself (the gods of Olympus - Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena - who are they if not people who became even more beautiful and received immortality in their human perfection).

Realism is the basis of Greek art, but, as already said, the purpose of this art is not simply to copy nature. In a work of art, the similarity of the image

must be illuminated by the inspiration that turned the artist into a rival of nature. Greek artists strove for maximum verisimilitude in order to reveal all the beauty of the real world, with the belief that the highest harmony was possible in it.

The main theme of Greek art is man. To fully reveal all human capabilities - such was the goal of art, poetry, philosophy and science.

Greek art firmly takes the path of humanism. The purpose of Greek art is to create beauty, which is equivalent to goodness, equivalent to the physical and spiritual perfection of man. The ideal beauty created by art gives rise to a noble desire for self-improvement in a person.

Architecture. Unlike Cretan architecture, which had the appearance of palaces, Greek architecture was primarily temple-based. But Greek temples had a special purpose from the very beginning. They did not gather for prayer, since religious ceremonies were held in front of the altar in the open air. Greek temple intended solely as a room for a statue of a deity in the form of an ideal image of a person (male or female).

What extraordinary beauty this building must have been, in which there was a most perfect creation: the image of a god who recreates human features.

Credo ancient architecture- measure. The basis of her artistic influence lies in proportional consistency, which arose as a result of studying the tectonic laws of the surrounding world, including the amazing structure of the human body. Therefore, this architecture was in some way anthropomorphic (similar to a person, correlated with his proportions). The basis of its semantic meaning was the unity of constructive and artistic tectonics.

Already in the archaic period, two styles, or orders, clearly stood out in Greek architecture: Doric and Ionic. The order (device, order) determines the structure of the columns and the roof located at the top of the building.

The role of the column in Greek architecture was large and varied. The columns surrounded the cella (the room for the statue of the deity) and determined the entire appearance of the temple. The Greek column is a stopped symphony of clear and full-voiced sounds of amazing purity

Architectural orders A - Doric; B - ionic

and expressiveness, this is the absolute completeness of individual parts and the whole, this is an affirmation of some ideal order that human genius initially achieves.

Highest flourishing culture Ancient Greece reaches in the forties and thirties of the 5th century. BC e. This period was the culmination of the heyday of Athens. The glory of Athens, the majesty and beauty of this city in the history of world culture are inextricably linked with the name of the leader of Athenian democracy, Pericles. First of all, Pericles decided to rebuild the Athenian

Pediment of an ancient Greek temple

Acropolis (upper city) was the name given to the fortified part of ancient Greek cities, which was built on the highest place.

Athens Acropolis

The ensemble of architectural structures of the Athens Acropolis of classical times included the following architectural monuments:

The Parthenon Temple, dedicated to the patroness of the city of Athens - Athena;

Temple of Nike Apteros (wingless). Architect Callicrates 449-420 BC e.;

Temple of Erechtheion. 421-406 BC e.

The Parthenon Temple was built under the general direction of Phidias. By agreement with Pericles, he wished to embody the idea of ​​​​the triumph of democracy in this largest monument of the Acropolis. The Parthenon is the best temple made in the Doric style.

Parthenon Temple

The Parthenon was also a repository, a state treasury, a state bank. Various donations were received into the treasury of the goddess Athena. Of significant monetary value were precious metal utensils and other jewelry, many of which were donated by friendly cities, income from lands that belonged to the goddess, and part of the income from silver mines. The Parthenon also preserved the main statue of the temple, made in the chrysoelephantine technique (Greek “chrysos” - gold, “elephas” - ivory). The second purpose of the Parthenon was that it was a cult building, closely associated with the Panathenaic festival and the Panathenaic procession. During architectural measurements of the Parthenon, they discovered that in the building, as in the human body, there are neither straight nor equal planes: all lines are curved, planes are slightly curved or concave, the axes of the columns, when mentally extended upward, intersect at one point at a height two kilometers. The Parthenon appears to fit naturally and organically into the high rock of the Acropolis.

Temple of Nike Apteros (wingless)

Temple of Nike Apteros. Last quarter of the 5th century. BC e. Marble, column height - 4.04 m. Built around 425 BC. e. by the architect Kallikrates, the Temple of Nike Apteros is one of the most beautiful buildings of the Ionic order of the classical era. It had four Ionic columns on the western and eastern sides and blank walls on the south and north. The temple is a special amphiprostyle type. In a small (3.74x4.19 m) interior room there was a statue of the goddess of victory - Nike. According to legend, Nike was conceived and created without wings, since the inhabitants of Athens wanted Victory to always remain with them and not be able to leave the city.

Temple of the Erechtheion (421-406 AD). The last building of the Acropolis was a temple dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and the mythical king Erechtheus. This is the only temple on the Acropolis that is asymmetrical in plan. Here, for the first time in the history of world architecture, in the western portico of the temple, the role of columns was performed by sculptures of female figures - caryatids.

Sculpture. As already mentioned, architecture and sculpture constituted a single organic whole in Greece. Sculptural works not only determined the symbolic and semantic form of the temple itself, which was the “frame” of the statue of the deity, but also filled the tectonic and load-bearing forms of the ceiling and structural parts of the building. Sculptural compositions were placed on the pediments and metopes of the building, and in the Ionic order they surrounded a relief frieze.

The first Greek sculptures still reflect the influence of Egypt: frontality and hesitant overcoming of stiff movements - the left leg put forward or the arm pressed to the chest. These stone sculptures are most often Polykleitos. Marble Doryphoros - athletes, winners of competitions. Can

It is no exaggeration to say that the sculpture of Hellas was born at the stadium. The artist was inspired by the beauty of a trained, slender body, and the beautiful statues inspired young men to train, giving them an example of physical perfection.

Another prototype for the sculptures were young women in tunics or cloaks. As a rule, Greek women did not take part in sports competitions, so beauty female body did not immediately shine in art.

The bodies of Greek statues are extremely spiritual. The body and psyche were realized in their indivisibility. The poses could be the simplest, almost everyday: Nika, who puts on sandals, a boy, who removes a splinter from his heel. These movements did not necessarily embody anything lofty.

The creation of ideal images of people distinguishes the work of the great sculptors of the 5th century BC: Myron - the famous “Discobolus” (an athlete whom the sculptor depicted in a calm pose of light slow movement - this is a plastic hymn to clarity of mind, wise balance), Policle-Myron Discobolus - “ Doryphoros" (Spearman). Faces of Greek statues

in the classical period they were little individualized, reflected in variations of a general type, but this type embodied a high spiritual meaning.

Ceramics. The most striking reflection of Greek painting was Greek ceramics. Greek ceramic dishes were quite varied in shape: oval amphorae with a narrow neck and two handles - vessels for storing wine and carrying water; craters with a wide neck - for storing grain, vegetable oil and honey; volumetric craters - for wine mixed with water, a common drink of the Greeks; exquisitely shaped hydria - vessels for carrying water with two horizontal handles for lifting onto the head, and a third, vertical handle for removing from the head; kiliki - drinking bowls; tall, elongated lekythos - for aromatic oil, etc.

All of them are distinguished by a surprisingly exquisite form, which in each vessel was determined by its purpose. The art of ceramics rapidly improved in the Late Archaic era. Black-figure vases are characteristic of the 6th century; Attica with its capital Athens ranks first in their production.

Black-figure ceramics are exclusively decorative. The design was transferred to the clay yellow, orange or pink background of the vessel. The drawing is based on a silhouette, so the figure is not depicted in volume. The details were processed with a cutter, similar to metal engraving. The body of the female figures was painted white, the unpainted part of the vase was opened with varnish, which gave it a metallic shine.

Black-figure painting in ceramics at the end of the 6th century was replaced by a more advanced one - red-figure painting. During the painting, the human figures were left in the warm color of the clay, and the background was revealed with a shiny black varnish. The details were no longer engraved, but were applied with thin black lines and thin, barely noticeable, pale yellow strokes. This made it possible to “tear” figures from the plane, draw their muscles, depict thin folds of clothing, etc.

Roman antiquity borrows most of the ideas and traditions of Greek culture. The history of Ancient Rome covers the period from the VIII century. BC e. according to Art. VI n. e. In parallel with the prosperity of the Hellenistic centers in the West, the military power of Rome grew.

Fall of Carthage in 146 BC e. was a turning point, from this time on Rome conquered Greece. The Romans' own artistic traditions were rather poor. Rome accepted and assimilated the entire pantheon of Greek deities, giving them only different names. Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite - Venus, Ares - Mars, etc.

Roman culture carried within itself the seeds of decline from the very beginning. Since slaveholding Rome was the last act of a slave society, it came onto the scene when the contradictions of that society reached an alarming intensity. Having mastered Greek culture, the Romans enriched it with remarkable discoveries in the field of construction technology. The Romans were the first to use strong and waterproof material in construction - Roman concrete, created and improved a special system of large public buildings made of brick and concrete, and widely used architectural forms such as arch, vault, and dome along with Greek orders.

Characteristic features of art. With the proclamation of the Roman Empire (I-V centuries AD), art was given the task of glorifying the personality of the ruler and his power.

Nine grandiose aqueducts (from Latin aqua - water, duko - lead - structure for supplying water) delivered water to imperial Rome. The Roman writer Julius Frontinus confidently states that these “huge stone structures cannot be compared with the selfless pyramids of Egypt.” These words contain the key to understanding the most important stimulus of Roman art - the cult of utility - only that which satisfied such aspirations was necessary, useful.

The power of the Roman emperors Art. n. BC) are emphasized by grandiose architectural monuments: beautifully planned urban ensembles, the famous imperial baths - thermal baths, amphitheaters.

Roman architecture cannot compare with Greek architecture in artistic merit, but it

majestic, quite impressive

" " 4 4 Arc de Triomphe 1ita

and in their engineering and construction

achievements was significantly higher than the simple beam structure of the Greek temple.

In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the famous Colosseum was built - an amphitheater that could simultaneously accommodate fifty thousand spectators, who, through eighty entrances and exits, could quickly fill and empty the amphitheater. Gladiator fights and hunting of animals took place here. The amphitheater arena was a wooden movable floor, which was filled with water from the aqueduct branch connected to the building, and then naval battles were held in the Colosseum.

The artistic basis of the Colosseum was the vertical and horizontal rhythms of the outer wall. The Colosseum is divided into three tiers of arcades; the fourth tier of the blank wall was crowned with round shields, which enhanced the effect of the breadth of the building, “supported” the rhythm of the arches of the lower floors and decorated it.

The most famous ancient domed structure, 43 meters high, “temple of all gods” is the Pantheon (118-125). Here, for the first time, the problem of organizing a large internal space was solved: combining a wall and a vault, a wall and a dome. Greece did not know such a spherical coverage of space, but Europe of later times learned it thanks to Rome.

Sculpture. Roman art was formed under the influence of Etruscan and Greek art, but did not inherit these traditions, but developed its own characteristic features - it became widespread in Rome sculptural portrait, and this is where the originality of Roman fine art was reflected.

The Roman sculptural portrait got its start from the tradition of removing a plaster mask from the face of a deceased person, from which a cast was made that exactly replicated his features. The Romans adopted techniques for removing masks from Greece. Masks for the Greek sculptor were an auxiliary material during the creation of a portrait. Roman craftsmen who worked to create a portrait in marble or

Portrait of Caracalla

bronze, exactly followed the casting, without changing anything, preserving all the small details of the face.

Marble Roman portraits repeat the Egyptian sculptural technique, therefore the Roman sculptural portrait is a unique phenomenon in nature: it is neither Egyptian nor Greek. The Roman portrait is the very history of Rome, presented in faces, the story of its unprecedented rise and tragic death.

With the development of social life and the growing importance of the conquering commander, statesman, and legislator, a statue of a Roman appears, wrapped in a toga (togatus) - a large wide cloak worn over a tunic. The toga thrown over the shoulder forms three groups of rounded folds: on

chest near the waist, near the knees and below.

Roman portraits from the period of Rome's decline tell the depth of the crisis with the dispassion of a mirror. public consciousness. In 395, the Roman Empire broke up into the Western - Latin and Eastern - Greek. In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell to the German invasion. A new page has also opened in the history of culture - the culture of the Middle Ages.

Portrait of a boy

Culture of the Arab East. The culture of the Arab East (W-XV1st centuries) means the culture of Arabia and those countries in which the Arab nation developed - Iran, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and other countries of North Africa.

The leading role in the process of Arabization was played by the tribes that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula, most of which were

staged by Bedouin nomads who called themselves Arabs “^ta^ in the name of the Lord...” (“Arab” meant “dashing rider”). Among nomadic tribes

Islam (from Arabic literally “submission”) was born. Islam is the future world religion, which had an exceptionally strong influence on the countries of the East and quickly spread and was accepted by all residents of the Arabian Peninsula.

Islam arose at the beginning of the 7th century. n. e. The founder of Islam was a real person - the prophet Muhammad (in Russian there are also spelling variants of the name of the prophet - Mohammed and close to the Arabic pronunciation - Muhammad), whose biography is quite well known.

Muhammad was orphaned early and was raised by relatives; in his youth he was a shepherd, and at the age of 25 he married a 40-year-old rich widow, the mother of several children. It was a love match and they had four daughters. In total, the prophet had nine wives.

Over time, Muhammad became less and less interested in trade and more and more in matters of faith: he received his first revelations in a dream - the angel Gabriel, the messenger of Allah, appeared to him and declared his will: Muhammad must preach in the name of him, the Lord. In 622, Muhammad left Mecca and moved to another city (Medina - the city of the prophet); His like-minded people moved there with him. From this year - the flight to Medina - the Muslim calendar begins.

The fierce war between Mecca and Medina ended in the complete victory of Medina. In 630, Muhammad solemnly returned to Mecca, which became the center of Islam, and at the same time a Muslim state was formed - the Arab Caliphate, the first leader of which was Muhammad himself. Islam (or Islam) becomes the state religion of the Arab East. Muhammad died in 632 and was buried in Medina. His grave is the most important shrine of Islam.

Already by the 8th century. the Arabs subjugated Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, part of the territory of Transcaucasia, Central Asia, North Africa, Spain. However, this huge political formation was not strong at the beginning of the 10th century. broke up into separate independent parts - the emirates.

As for the Arab-Muslim culture, having absorbed the diverse culture of the Persians, Syrians, Copts (the original inhabitants of Egypt), Jews, the peoples of Central Asia and others, it remained essentially united. This leading link was Islam.

Islam. Scientists recognize that Islam arose from a combination of elements of Judaism, Christianity, as well as some ritual traditions of Old Arab pre-Muslim cults of nature: most Arabs of the 6th - early 7th centuries. were pagans. However, Islam is an independent religion; the main principles of Islam are as follows.

Muslims believe in one God, Allah, omnipotent and incomprehensible to man. In order to tell humanity the truth about God and the world, special people were chosen - prophets, the last of whom was Muhammad. Other, earlier prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus Christ - thus, Islam distinguishes Christians and Jews from among people professing other religions, considering them “people of the book.”

Seeing a prophet in Christ, Islam opposes the Christian teaching about the consubstantiality of Christ with God and against the idea of ​​the Trinity as a whole, arguing that “it is not characteristic of God to have children” and “how will he have children when he did not have a girlfriend?” .

The world, according to Islam, was created in six days: Allah said: “Be,” and the heavens and earth came into being. Man was created by Allah from the earth: fashioning the shell of a man from

clay, Allah breathed into man “his spirit” - life. Thus, a person consists of two essences - physical and spiritual. The woman Eve (Chava) came out of Adam's rib during his sleep.

Islam teaches that the happy period of life in paradise in human history is behind us. Life in this world, Islam assures, is “deceptive joy, seduction, vain attire, vanity”; In the daily bustle, a person should not forget about his soul, about what awaits him after God's judgment.

Muslims believe that after death a person will face divine retribution - God's universal judgment. The posthumous fate of a person will depend on how he behaved during life, on the ratio of bad and good deeds that he committed. The fate of a person and his hour of death, Muslims say, are written in advance in the Book of Fates. The Arabs' attitude to fate is reflected in the old proverb: "Everyone has a day of death." By fate they have long understood a predetermined fate, the irresistible and unchangeable passage of time.

The most important question in Islam was how the will of God and man relate: after all, Allah is omnipotent, he created people and their actions, everything that happens in the world - both good and evil - is predestined by Allah. Should we praise the righteous, hate the sinners, and if the will of Allah is absolute, then where are the differences between good and evil?

In the 10th century The famous Muslim theologian al-Ashari (Shafi'i school) tried to answer this question, who argued that Allah created man with all his future actions and that man only imagines that he has free will and freedom of choice. Other famous theologians al-Maturidi and Abu Hanifa (Hani-fi school) argued that man has free will, and Allah helps him in good deeds and leaves in bad.

The question of free will was not the only controversial issue in Islam; already in the 7th century. Three main directions in Islam arose, existing to this day: Harazdites, Sunnis, Shiites. The division was based on a dispute about the principles of inheritance of religious and secular power.

At the turn of the 8th-8th centuries. In Islam, another trend emerged - Sufism, its followers were called fakirs, or dervishes. They condemned wealth and proclaimed the cult of poverty and self-denial to save the soul and merge with God.

Koran. The main tenets of Islam are set out in the main holy book of Muslims - the Koran (from Arabic quran - reading). It is based on the commandments, sermons, ritual and legal institutions, prayers, edifying stories and parables of Muhammad, spoken by him in Medina and Mecca. The prophet's disciples learned them by heart and recited them like ancient Arabic poetry. The Qur'an is written in rhymed prose and rhythmic sentences; Arabists consider rhyme refined and rhythm clear.

All sayings in which the speaker is not Muhammad, but Allah, are classified as revelations, all others are classified as legends. The full text of the Koran was collected after the death of Muhammad, and then, in the middle of the 7th century, under Caliph Osman, who was an associate and son-in-law of Muhammad, this text was declared canonical. Soon commentaries on the Koran were also compiled.

Islamization presupposed the indispensable reading and knowledge of this great book, which led to the spread of the Arabic language - thus, the role of the Arabic language in the development of the culture of the Arab East is enormous: along with Islam, it was a powerful factor uniting all Arab countries. It is generally accepted that the classic literary Arabic developed in the early Middle Ages on the basis of Old Arabic poetry and the Koran. Arabic writing is regarded by the Arabs as the greatest cultural value, and its authorship is attributed to the legendary ancestor of the Arabs, Ismail.

In the Middle Ages there were many people who knew the Koran by heart. The Quran was forbidden to be translated from Arabic into other languages, and it was on the Quran that the teaching of the Arabic language was based.

There are many translations into Russian of the first sura of the Koran, the text of which every Muslim must know. Famous Russian orientalist Gordiy Semenovich Sa

Blukov (1804-1880), who was the first to translate the Koran into Russian, entitled this first sura of the Koran “Al-Fatiha” (“Opening”) as follows: “Opening the doors to venerable reading.” Here is her text:

In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. Glory to God, the Lord of the worlds, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Holder

The Day of Judgment is at Your disposal! We worship You and You

We ask for help: lead us along the straight path, the path of those whom You have blessed, not those

who are under anger, not those

who wander.

It must be taken into account that the text of the Koran in Arabic, which is Holy Scripture Muslims, is a poetic work. Therefore, in addition to the “translation of meanings,” attempts were made to show the poetic merits of the Koran. Here is how Vasily Eberman (1899-1937) translated Fatiha:

Praise be to Allah, who is the Lord of the worlds,

Gracious, Merciful He is alone.

Day Last Judgment Lord,

We worship you.

Help is given to us by You alone.

Lead us along the path of those who are led by You.

Along the path of those upon whom Your mercy has been extended.

Who are you not angry with?

Who does not know the misconceptions of the bad guys?

Arabization in the Middle Ages was one of the most important elements in the creation of Muslim culture.

AL-FATIHA

In the name of the Lord, Whose heart is merciful, Whose mercy we want, asking earnestly for it! Praise be to Him, the Ruler of the worlds, who has spread a veil over existence. To the one whose heart is merciful towards creatures, whose mercy we want, asking earnestly for it! To the Lord of the Day of the Last Judgment Praise forever and devotion always! Serving You, calling out to You in fear: “Help us!” - we are prostrate in the dust. Lead us, O God, on a righteous path, Dear to those who are gifted by You, Not to those whose fate has risen under Your wrath, Not to those who wander in the thick darkness.

(Translation by T. Shumovsky)

Arabic culture. Already in early Middle Ages The Arabs had rich folklore traditions, they valued the spoken word, beautiful phrase, a successful comparison, a well-spoken saying. Each tribe of Arabia had its own poet, who used

Surah (chapter) from the Koran. Arabic sample book graphics XIV century

rhythmic prose. There were many rhythms: it is believed that they were born in the camel’s saddle, when the Bedouin sang on the way, adapting to the progress of his “ship of the desert.”

In the first centuries of Islam, the art of rhyming became a court craft in large cities. Poets also acted as literary critics. In the VIII-X centuries. Many works of pre-Islamic Arabic oral poetry were recorded: 9th century. - two collections of “Hamasa” (“Songs of Valor”), which included poems by more than 500 Old Arabic poets; X century - “Kitab al-Aghani” (“Book of Songs”), created by the writer, scientist, musician Abul-Faraj Al-Isfahani.

The attitude of the Arabs towards poets, for all their admiration for poetry, was not unambiguous. They believed that the inspiration that helps them write poetry comes from demons, the devils: they eavesdrop on the conversations of angels, and then tell priests and poets about them. In addition, the Arabs were almost completely uninterested in the specific personality of the poet.

No complete and reliable information has been preserved about the great poets of the Arab East Abu Nuwas (747-813), Abu l-Atahiya, Al-Mu-tanabbi, Abu-l-Ala al Maari (973-1057/58).

In the X-XV centuries. The now world-famous collection of Arabian folk tales, “A Thousand and One Nights,” gradually emerged. They were based on revised plots of Persian, Indian, and Greek legends, the action of which was transferred to the Arab court and urban environment, as well as the Arabian tales: about Ali Baba, Alad Din, Sinbad the Sailor. The heroes of fairy tales were princesses, sultans, merchants, and townspeople. The favorite character of medieval Arabic literature was the Bedouin - daring and cautious, crafty and simple-minded, the keeper of pure Arabic speech.

The mathematician and philosopher Omar Khayyam Ghiyasaddin Abu al-Fakht ibn Ibrahim (1048-1122) brought world fame to his philosophical and free-thinking poems. His most famous book is the Rubaiyat. About two thousand four-shays have survived to our time - rubai, which were performed orally, possibly sung. The rubai were easy to remember, each of them was a small poem. The poet glorifies movement, eternal and continuous, but Khayyam is not closed in the circle of his scientific interests. In poetry, and this is probably how it was in life, we find him in a cheerful circle of friends in the lap of nature. Always with a slight smile on his lips. Even Allah himself cannot escape his sharp words.

Who, while living on earth, has not sinned? Answer! Well, who has not sinned - has he lived? Answer! How are You better than me, if You committed evil in return as punishment for me? Answer!

More primordial than anything else is love, In the song of youth the first word is love. Oh, wretched ignoramus in the world of love, know that the basis of our entire life is love!

In medieval Arab culture, poetry and prose were closely intertwined: poetry was most naturally included in love stories, medical treatises, heroic stories, philosophical and historical works, and even in the official messages of medieval rulers. And all Arabic literature was united by the Muslim faith and the Koran: quotes and phrases from there were found everywhere.

Orientalists believe that the heyday of Arabic poetry, literature, and culture in general occurred in the 8th-9th centuries: during this period, the rapidly developing Arab world stood at the head of world civilization. From the 12th century the level of cultural life is declining. Basic scientific achievements Arab scientists thus date back to the early Middle Ages.

The contribution of the Arabs to mathematical science was significant: Abu-l-Wafa (10th century) - creator of the sine theorem of spherical trigonometry, tables of sines with an interval of 15°, and the concept of “segments corresponding to secant and cosecant.”

Omar Khayyam wrote Algebra, which contained a systematic study of equations of the third degree; dealt with the problem of irrational and real chi

sat down; he owns the philosophical treatise “On the Universality of Being”; in 1079 he introduced a calendar more accurate than the modern Gregorian calendar.

Ibn al-Haytham is an outstanding Egyptian scientist, mathematician and physicist, author of famous works on optics.

Medicine has achieved great success. Arab medieval medicine was glorified by Ibn Sina - Avicenna (980-1037), the author of an encyclopedia of theoretical and clinical medicine, who summarized the views and experience of Greek, Roman, Indian and Central Asian doctors - “The Canon of Medical Science”. For many centuries, this work was a mandatory guide for doctors.

Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi, a famous Baghdad surgeon, gave a classic description of smallpox and measles, and used smallpox vaccination. The Syrian Bakhtisho family gave seven generations of famous doctors.

Arabic philosophy developed on the basis of the ancient heritage; the philosopher-scientists were Al-Kindi, who lived in the 9th century, and al-Farabi (870-950), Ibn Sina (“Book of Healing”) - 10th century. Scientists who united in the philosophical circle “Brothers of Purity” in the city of Basra compiled an encyclopedia of philosophical scientific achievements of their time.

Historical thought also developed; The leading representatives of historical science were al-Belazuri, who wrote about the Arab conquests, al-Nakubi, at-Tabari and al-Masudi, the authors of works on general history. It is history that will remain virtually the only branch of scientific knowledge that will develop in the XIII-XV centuries. under the dominance of a fanatical Muslim clergy, when Arab East neither exact sciences nor mathematics developed. Most famous historians XIV-XV centuries were the Egyptian Makrizi, who compiled the history of the Copts, and Ibn Khaldun, the first Arab historian to try to create a theory of history.

At the turn of the VIII-IX centuries. An Arabic grammar was compiled, which formed the basis of all subsequent grammars.

Medieval centers Arab science there were the cities of Baghdad, Kufa, Basra, Harron. Was especially lively scientific life Baghdad, where the “House of Science” was created - a kind of association of an academy, an observatory, a library and a college of translators.

By the 10th century In many cities, secondary and higher Muslim schools - madrasahs - appeared. In the X-XIII centuries. In Europe, a signed decimal system for writing numbers, called “Arabic numerals,” became known from Arabic writings.

Architecture. Famous architectural monuments of the 7th century. - Amr Mosque in Fustat and the Cathedral Mosque in Kufa. Then the famous temple “Dome of the Rock” was built in Damascus, decorated with mosaics and multi-colored marble. From the 7th-8th centuries. the mosques had a rectangular courtyard surrounded by galleries and a multi-columned prayer hall.

From the 10th century buildings begin to be decorated with elegant floral and geometric ornaments, which included inscriptions - Arabic script. Europeans called this pattern an arabesque.

The object of the Hajj (Hajj is the pilgrimage of Muslims to make a sacrifice on the holiday of Eid al-Fitr - one of the main duties of a Muslim) was the Kaaba - a temple in Mecca, shaped like a cube. In its wall there is a niche with a black stone, probably of meteorite origin. This black stone is revered as a symbol of Allah, representing his presence.

Islam, advocating strict monotheism, fought against the tribal cults of the Arabians. In Islam, sculpture was prohibited and images of living beings were not approved. As a result

Gauhar Shad Mosque. Meshked. 1405-1418. Iran

painting did not receive significant development in Arab culture, being limited to ornaments. From the 12th century The art of miniatures, including books, began to develop.

In general, fine art has become carpet-like; its characteristic features have become colorful and patterned. The combination of bright colors was always strictly geometric, rational and subordinated to Muslim symbolism.

The Arabs considered red the best color for the eyes - it was the color of women, children and joy. As much as red was loved, gray was despised. White, black and purple colors were interpreted as the colors of mourning, rejection of the joys of life. Particularly prominent in Islam green color who had exceptional prestige. For many centuries it was forbidden to non-Muslims.

Life and customs of the Arabs. The Koran contains ritual and legal regulations that regulate different sides life of Muslim society. In accordance with these instructions, family, legal, and property relations of people were built. A set of norms of morality, law, cultural and other guidelines that regulate the entire public and personal life of a Muslim, called Sharia (from Arabic Sharia - literally “the proper path”) - the most important part of Muslim law, its source, is the most important component

systems of Islam. Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad. ttt,

11 ^ Sharia was formed in those

Medieval Arabic miniature D, ., £. t„ґ

reading of the U.U.-U.S. centuries. By the 9th century. on the base

According to Sharia norms, a rating scale was developed for all actions of believers.

Obligatory actions included those whose failure to perform was punishable during life and after death: reading prayers, observing fasting, and various rituals of Islam. Desirable actions included additional prayers and fasting, charity, this was encouraged during life and rewarded after death. Indifferent actions - sleeping, eating, getting married - were neither encouraged nor prohibited. Disapproved, but not punishable actions, were actions caused by the desire to enjoy earthly goods: the culture of the medieval Arab East, prone to luxury: food, incense, was sensual.

Prohibited actions included those that were punished both during life and after death: it was forbidden to drink wine, eat pork, gamble, engage in usury, and perform witchcraft. Despite the prohibitions of Islam, many residents of the medieval Arab East continued to drink wine (this was especially typical for cities), but all other prohibitions - pork, blood, the meat of any animal killed not according to Muslim rites - were strictly observed.

The position of men and women. The laws of inheritance, guardianship, marriage and divorce were developed on the basis of the Koran. Marriage was seen as the most important event in the life of a man and a woman.

The union was considered ideal cousin and sisters, Monument to Khoja Nasrad-Din and the number of legal wives was limited to four. It was in Bukhara

the subordinate position of women in the family and society was confirmed, and kinship was kept strictly on the paternal side. The man was recognized as the absolute leader. God's blessing lay precisely on the sons, and therefore only after the birth of a son was a person here considered full-fledged. A real man was distinguished by generosity, generosity, the ability to love and have fun, valor, and loyalty to his word. The man was required to constantly assert his superiority, to be persistent, patient and ready for any adversity. He was responsible for caring for the elders and the younger; he had to know his genealogy and family traditions.

Traditional norms of behavior of Eastern society were combined with traditional thinking. It, in turn, was largely determined by mythology.

Mythology of the Arab East. Amulets provided certain protection from evil forces. The most important amulet was a palm made of copper with a blue bead - it was the “palm of Fatima” - named after the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. It was believed that the “palm of Fatima,” as well as other amulets - flat silver twin frogs, silver brooches, cowrie shells - protected a person from the evil eye.

They were very afraid of the evil eye and they explained many phenomena in life - from illness to crop failure. It was believed that the power of the evil eye increases many times over if it is accompanied by unkind or, on the contrary, too flattering speeches. This is how evasiveness in speech was brought up, a tendency to constantly make reservations: “By the will of Allah,” the desire to hide one’s private life from strangers behind a blank wall. family life. This also influenced the style of clothing, primarily for women: women wore blank face coverings and rather shapeless dresses that almost completely hid their figure.

In the Arab East, great importance was attached to dreams: they believed in prophetic dreams, and already at the beginning of the 11th century. Ad-Di-navari compiled the first dream book in Arabic. It was not allowed to invent and speculate on dreams: “Whoever lies about his dreams will answer on the day of the rising of the dead,” says the Koran.

Arabic medieval culture developed in those countries that underwent Arabization, adopted Islam and in which classical Arabic dominated for a long time as the language of government institutions, literature and religion.

The entire medieval Arab culture, everyday life and way of life of people, moral norms in society developed under the influence of the Islamic religion, and the magical gesture arose right hand necks among the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century.

in the Maghreb, the greatest flowering of Arab culture occurred

in the 8th-11th centuries. At this time, poetry developed successfully, which gave the world Omar Khayyam and which was characterized by a secular, cheerful and at the same time philosophical character; the famous fairy tales “A Thousand and One Nights”, which are still famous throughout the world, were compiled; Many works of other peoples, primarily ancient authors, were actively translated into Arabic.

The Arabs made significant contributions to world mathematical science, the development of medicine, and philosophy. They created such unique architectural monuments as mosques and famous temples in Mecca and Damascus, giving significant originality to the buildings, decorating them with ornaments - Arabic script.

The influence of Islam determined the underdevelopment of painting and sculpture in Arab culture, predetermining the departure of fine art into carpeting.

Islam is the youngest of the three world religions, the importance of which is steadily increasing. IN modern world Islam is the second most followed world religion.

1. Aegean or Cretan-Mycenaean culture (3 – 2 thousand BC).

2. Ancient Greek culture:

a) Homeric period (11th – 9th centuries BC);

b) archaic period (8th – 6th centuries BC);

c) classical period (5th – 4th centuries BC);

d) Hellenistic period (323 – 146 BC).

3. Ancient Roman culture:

a) royal period (8th – 6th centuries BC);

b) Republican period (6th – end of 1st century BC);

c) the period of the empire (late 1st century BC – 476 ᴦ. AD).

1. Aegean culture.

Ancient Greek culture did not arise immediately; it was the heir and successor of the highly developed Aegean culture. Aegean culture is a culture found in ancient times on the islands of the Aegean Sea and the southern part of mainland Greece. The centers of Aegean culture became the island of Crete (3000 - 1500 BC) and the city of Mycenae on the mainland (3000 BC - settlement, 1700 - 1200 - flourishing). He conducted excavations in Crete at the beginning of the 20th century. Englishman Evans, and Mycenae at the end of the 19th century. explored by the German Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy. The center of Crete was the city of Knossos. Around 1600 ᴦ. BC. A majestic palace complex was erected in Knrssa, with the same labyrinth that we know about from the myths about the exploits of Theseus. The Minotaur is a man and has the head of a bull. Thanks to Theseus, Athens stops paying a terrible tribute to the Cretan Minotaur with girls and boys. In the palace itself there was the throne room of the Double Ax, adjoining other halls, verandas, and a swimming pool. The palace of Knossos had a sewage system, cold and hot water. The walls and ceilings of the palace were lined with granite and marble and decorated with magnificent frescoes. The frescoes depicted scenes of hunting, holidays, and everyday life. Scenes of games with bulls are very common. In Crete there was a cult of the bull. In Crete there was no cult of priests, grandiose religious temples, or pyramids. No monumental, majestic sculpture was found either. Examples of Cretan sculpture are small figurines made of gold and ivory. From the end of 3 thousand BC. the inhabitants of Crete used ceramics, and faience figurines appeared. Ceramic dishes appeared in everyday life. It was covered with black paint to make it waterproof. From the 16th century BC. the dishes were decorated with ornaments. There are different assumptions about the reasons for the death of the Cretan culture. Obviously the most main reason- ϶ᴛᴏ global environmental disaster. In the 15th century BC. A volcanic eruption occurred on one of the islands of Santorini, near Crete. This eruption caused either a tsunami (huge sea waves) or an earthquake in Crete. Knossos was destroyed. The Achaean tribes who moved (to the mainland?) were saved. From that time (around 1450 BC), Mycenae became the center of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture. This city was famous for its fortress, made of huge stone blocks. The Lion Gate of Mycenae is famous: two colossal stones, on top there is a thick slab, on top of which there is a column slightly widening towards the top. On both sides of the column are two lionesses. A mask of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, known from the events of the Trojan War, was found in Mycenae. The mask is intended for burial - it was put on the face of the deceased. She saved personality traits Agamemnon.

In the 12th century BC. The Achaeans were conquered by Dorian tribes who came from the north. The Dorians were more backward in terms of the general level of culture, but were superior to the Achaeans in technical terms. They knew how to make iron. Οʜᴎ destroyed the Aegean culture. The dominance of the Dorians is the very beginning of ancient Greek culture, associated with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

2. Greek culture.

A) Homeric period. This is the time of decomposition of the clan system and the transition to the slave system (11th – 9th centuries BC). During this period, cities were dying, palaces were not being built, and fine art was not developing. Cultural achievements this time - Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", telling about the events of the distant past, about the Trojan War (13th century BC). These poems were passed down orally from generation to generation, because there was no writing. They were recorded by Homer in the 8th century. BC.

B) Archaic period (8th – 6th centuries BC). The transition to the slave system continues, city-policies are formed.

The most important cultural achievement of this period was the adoption of the sound-letter Phoenician alphabet. Before this, the Aegeans on Crete had a written language, but it was not preserved. The Phoenician alphabet consisted only of consonant letters, and vowels were selected according to their meaning when reading the text. The Greeks improved the Phoenician alphabet by adding vowels. This is how ancient Greek writing arose.

During the archaic period, various species appeared sports games. The first were Olympic Games, dedicated to Zeus. Οʜᴎ appeared in 776 ᴦ. BC. are held once every 4 years. Then the Pythian Games dedicated to Apollo (once every 4 years), and the Isthmian Games in honor of the god Poseidon (once every 2 years). The Pythian games were both sports and musical at the same time. This is how sport entered the cultural life of Ancient Greece, and the Greek agon (wrestling, competition) became characteristic feature a free Greek who could prove himself as a citizen of his polis and bring glory to the polis.

In the 6th century. BC. ancient philosophy appears, the first frontier of scientific knowledge. This is the biggest turning point in the way of thinking not only of the Greeks themselves, but of all humanity as a whole. Before this, there was a specific understanding of natural phenomena and human actions as a manifestation of the essence and will of the gods. Zeus is the god of thunder and lightning, Hera is the goddess of marriage, Helios is the god of the sun, Hephaestus is the god of blacksmithing, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, etc. Philosophical thinking is abstract thinking. The world is viewed in such abstract categories as good and evil, life and death, being and non-being. A person learns to generalize and synthesize. The first philosophers appear, known as the seven Greek sages: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Democritus, Pythagoras, Protagoras. The first of them is Thales. At the center of his teaching is the question of the unity of the world. Following him, other philosophers solve this problem. Thales considers water to be the basis of the world, Anaximenes - air, Heraclitus - fire. In this search for the unity of the world, philosophy opposes mythology, which affirms the opposite thesis of the division of the world into the ordinary (the world of people) and the mythological (the world of gods). Greek thinkers expressed ideas that would be proven many centuries later: Pythagoras was the first to say that the Earth is a sphere. Heraclitus created a theory about the changeability of nature long before Hegel (18th - early 19th centuries). Heraclitus suggested that the human soul is an energetic particle of the cosmos. Two centuries before Plato, the word “Atlantis” was spoken by Anaximander, who also composed the first geographical map, where the Earth is a circle, washed by the ocean on all sides.

Architecture. The main type of architectural structure is a temple, built according to the peripteral principle: a rectangular building in plan, framed on four sides by a columnar one. This visually increased the area of ​​the temple. The archaic temple was built without windows, which is why it was dark inside. It contained statues of gods, and sometimes even altars. Temples could serve to store the city treasury, or could be a refuge for criminals. Temples were distinguished by the type of columns or order. Two types of columns appear: the Doric column (not very tall, massive, without decoration).

Ionic column (higher than the Doric, noticeably tapering towards the top, capital – top part- with curls-volutes).

An example of archaic Doric temples: the Temple of Hera at Olympia, founded earlier than the 7th century. BC.; sanctuary of Zeus in Syracuse; Temple of Demeter at Paestum; temples in Athens to the Parthenon. Both the Doric and Ionic temples are descended from the Mycenaean megaron. Megaron in lane from Greek Big hall, a type of the oldest Greek dwelling (3 - 2 thousand BC). This is a rectangular hall, sometimes divided by 1-2 longitudinal rows of pillars, with a hearth and an entrance portico, usually in front of the entrance to the building. The portico ended with a pediment.

The sculpture is small. Figurines made of bronze, ivory. Two basic types of single sculpture emerge. These are kouros (naked youth) and kora (girl in draped clothes). In subsequent eras these types will develop and become monumental.

Literature. Lyric poetry is born. The word "lyrics" comes from the word "lyre" - musical instrument. Poets of the Archaic period: Archilochus, Ibycus, Alcaeus, Sappho (Sappho), Anacreon. They glorify not only the exploits of mythical heroes, but also simple human feelings: love, friendship. The theme of the poems is also nature.

B) Classical period (5th – 4th centuries BC). There is a flourishing and then the collapse of city-states. The period reached its highest development during the era of King Pericles, who reigned for 14 years (443 – 429 BC). At this time, the center of cultural life of all Greek world becomes Athens. Here, the “father of history” Herodotus writes the first historical works, which describe the Greco-Persian Wars (“History”) and the history of Egypt. It is here that Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides create their great tragedies and develop performing arts. Dozens of artists and sculptors work at the court of Pericles. Among them is the greatest architect, painter, and sculptor Phidias. On the Athenian acropolis (an elevated part of the city, often located in the center) a grandiose complex of temple buildings is being built, the ruins of which have survived to this day. The center of the complex is a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos. The temple is usually called the Parthenon (about 448 or 447 ᴦ. BC). Architects Iktin and Kallikrates. The Parthenon is a pan-Greek monument to the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. The Parthenon was built in the Doric style and is framed by 46 Doric columns. The Parthenon is mainly made of marble, and only the roof of the temple is wooden. Pediment and cornices

decorated with reliefs. The reliefs depict festive processions of young men and women in honor of the birth of the goddess Athena. Some of the reliefs are now in British Museum in London. Inside the temple was a statue of Athena, the warrior goddess. It was made by Phidias from marble, ivory and gold. The height of the statue is 2–12 m, the body is closed, and there is a helmet on the head. It is believed that over 300 kᴦ was spent on it. gold. The second grandiose work of Phidias is Olympian Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the world. The statue of Zeus was located in Olympia, in a temple made in the Doric style. The length of the temple is 64 m, width 28 m. The statue was made of gold and ivory. In one hand Zeus held a statue of the goddess Nike, in the other a rod (a symbol of power) topped with an image of an eagle. In the image of Zeus, Phidias managed to convey superhuman greatness. The height of the statue is 17 m.

TO classical period refers to another of the seven wonders of the world - the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, this is the tomb of King Mausolus, who died around 353 ᴦ. BC. Sculptor – Skopas. In addition to Phidias, famous sculptors were Myron ("Discobolus" - conveying rapid movement), Polykleitos ("Doriphoros, or spear-bearer" - the ideal of male beauty), Lysippos (portrait busts of Al. Macedonian, Socrates). Apollodorus is famous in painting. He was called the master of chiaroscuro, he was the first to convey perspective (the further away, the smaller).

Philosophy: Socrates (470 – 399), Plato (427 – 347), Aristotle (384 – 322). Aristotle lived his entire adult life in Athens. The city was dedicated to this goddess and was under her protection. Athens is the birthplace of democracy. For the first time on earth, a democratic state was created. Demos - people, kratos - power. During Aristotle's time, 21 thousand Greek men lived in Athens. The creator of logic, Aristotle, was highly respected. The greatest monarch of the time was Philip of Macedon, who conquered the Peloponnesian Peninsula in southern Greece. He was happy that he lived at the same time as Aristotle, and gave him his son, Alexander, to study. Aristotle formulated the laws of thinking and created logic. How did he do it? Astronomy - stars are visible, geometry - objects are visible. And the thought? I can not see anything. It turns out that Aristotle had a powerful help - mathematics. Logic is the child of geometry. From observations of the formation of geometric concepts, Aristotle derived the basic principles of logic. Aristotle's logic is still studied today.

Hellenistic period (mid 4 – 146 ᴦ. BC).

At this time, ancient Greek culture (the culture of the Hellenes, as the ancient Greeks called themselves) spread among the peoples living in the basin Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, it connects with eastern cultures. The synthesis of Greek and Eastern culture is called Hellenistic culture. The process of spreading Greek culture continued after Greece became dependent on Rome (146 ᴦ. BC).

Development of sciences: mathematics, whose representatives were Euclid and Archimedes. Thanks to their efforts, mathematics found wide practical significance in mechanics, optics, hydrostatics, and construction. In art, the greatest success accompanies architecture and sculpture.

Architecture. In architecture, along with religious temples, civil public buildings are built: palaces, theaters, libraries. For example, in Alexandria it was built famous library, where about 799 thousand scrolls were kept (3rd century BC). The Museyon was also built there, which became the largest center of science and art in antiquity. The largest architectural structure was the Alexandria lighthouse, 120 m high, included in the wonders of the world. Architect - Sostratus.

Sculpture. Continues classic patterns, but new features also appear: intensified internal tension, dynamics. Famous masterpieces are Aphrodite (Venus) of Melos and Nike of Samothrace (2nd century BC). The statue of the sun god Helios, known as the Colossus of Rhodes (36 m high), is enormous in size. It is one of the seven wonders of the world. The Colossus of Rhodes was located on the shore of the harbor of the island of Rhodes and crashed during an earthquake.

The ancient culture of Ancient Greece developed over several centuries under the conditions of a special state system - city-policies. The differences between them were quite pronounced character- their citizens spoke different language dialects, used their own calendars and coins, and revered their gods and heroes.

However, from the VIII-VI centuries. BC e., the period of the emergence and flourishing of the polis system, quite distinct features of the Greek archaic took shape.

These include:

1 interactive, synthesizing character(interaction - interaction) of ancient Greek culture: it synthesized the achievements of different types of ancient cultures, avoiding blind imitation;

2 cosmologism, meaning that Space was the absolute of culture: it embodied the World, the Universe, order opposed to Chaos;

3 canonicity, with led to the observance of canons (rules aimed at achieving the ideal) in philosophy, art, construction, in the proportions of the harmonious human figure;

4 competitiveness as one of the features that characterized various areas life of Greek society - artistic, sports, etc. The first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC;

5 dialecticity, expressed in the unity of opposites (originally the term “dialectics” meant the ability to conduct a conversation).

The formation and development of the culture of Greek city-states (city-states) was based on achievements in the field of productive activities of the peoples of Ancient Greece - in the development of mining and metallurgy, construction equipment and architecture, ceramic and textile production, and the fleet.

With the fall of the polis (IV century BC), the decline of Greek culture began, which, nevertheless, retained its main achievements, giving impetus to the development of European culture as a whole.

Mythology. Greek mythology developed in the 2nd millennium BC. e. At this time, the pantheon of gods living on Mount Olympus and subordinate to the power of one god finally took shape - Zeus,"father of men and gods." Each Olympian deity was endowed with certain functions: Athena- goddess of war, the highest kinds of art, crafts, guardian of cities and countries; Hermes- god of trade; Artemis- goddess of the hunt; Aphrodite - goddess of love for beauty, etc.

The pantheon of gods was reproduced in architectural structures(Temple of Artemis, etc.). Humanoid images of gods became the main form of development ancient art Ancient Greece.
Religion. Ideas about the afterlife were of great importance in ancient Greek religion. The ruler of the kingdom of the dead was Hades, at whose feet is the dog Cerberus. The darkest part of Hades is Tartarus - an abyss where the souls of especially guilty people languish. The Greeks had no idea about man’s sinfulness before God.

Philosophy. Philosophy occupies a special place in ancient Greek culture. Exactly Ancient Greece was the stage of sociocultural development at which philosophy was born. Its origin, associated with the decomposition of myth, was based on the comprehension and generalization of scientific knowledge characteristic of that time, and the analysis of the world of everyday life. As a result, a hallmark philosophy - the desire for wisdom, for understanding the world and man's place in it. Famous philosophical schools were formed in Ancient Greece: Milesian(VI century BC) and Eleatic(VI - V centuries BC). The history of philosophical thought includes the names of ancient Greek philosophers - Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. Grandiose philosophical systems included the basic ideological principles, the doctrine of being and non-being, dialectics, theory of knowledge, aesthetics, logic, the doctrine of the state, etc.

Ancient Greek philosophy was the initial basis for all subsequent development of Western European philosophy.

The science. The natural scientific views of the ancient Greeks developed in close interaction with philosophy. They had character pre-sciences, in which knowledge was still included in the substantive and practical activities of man.

Ancient Greek science was united, undivided, not divided into philosophy and natural science and its individual disciplines. The world was understood as a single whole.

Ancient science immortalized itself in the history of spiritual culture with the creation atomistics. The atomic teachings of Leucippus and Democritus served as the ideological and methodological basis for the development of science until the 19th century. Aristotle's Physics was dedicated to the study of nature and laid the foundation for physical science.

In Ancient Greece, the biological knowledge. The initial scientific ideas about the origin of living organisms were developed by Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Democritus. The greatest physician of antiquity was Hippocrates. Aristotle wrote a number of biological treatises.

At the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. the story arose of how independent genre literature. The first historian of the ancient world is considered the “father of history” Herodotus, who devoted his works to descriptions of wars. In general, history, as a science, focused on the description of specific, individual historical events.

Art culture. Ancient Greek literature - the oldest of European literatures, at the origins of which (8th century BC) are the Iliad and Odyssey, attributed to the blind singer Homer. Lyrics and tragedy appear in ancient Greek literature.

Reached a high level of development architecture(temples of Apollo, Artemis, Zeus, Acropolis of Athens), sculpture(statue of Zeus, “Disco-thrower”, Aphrodite of Cnidus), arose theater. The theater of Greece is the oldest in Europe, reaching its peak in the 5th century BC. Drama and theater arose from rural festivals in honor of the god Dionysus, where solemn and sad odes were sung, from which tragedy was born, as well as cheerful songs, from which comedy was born. The theater was a state institution, so the state took upon itself the organization of theatrical performances, during which all city affairs were suspended.

In the archaic era, an order system for the construction of temples arose (identifying load-bearing and weighty parts), which were built in honor of the gods.

Overall Ancient Greek art culture and art were oriented towards the ideals of the sublime and beautiful.

From the second half of the 4th century. BC e. a new period begins in ancient greek history and culture - Hellenistic period.

IN in a broad sense the concept of “Hellenism” means a stage in the history of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean from the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great (334-323 BC) until the conquest of these countries by Rome. In 86 BC. The Romans conquered Athens in 30 BC. - Egypt. 27 BC - date of birth of the Roman Empire.

Hellenistic culture was not uniform. Cultural life different centers differed depending on the level of the economy, the development of social relations, the ratio ethnic groups. What was common was that the classical examples of social economics and political development Ancient Greek art and literature, philosophy, science, and architecture were featured. Scientific literature associated with the names of Euclid, Archimedes, and Ptolemy has become widespread. Outstanding discoveries were made in the field of astronomy. So, in the 3rd century. BC e. Aristarchus of Samos was the first in the history of science to create a heliocentric system of the world, which he reproduced in the 16th century. N. Copernicus. Immortal creations are bright - Venus de Milo, Laocoon, etc.

In the 3rd century. BC e. literature developed in new cultural centers, mainly in Alexandria, where there was one of the best libraries - the Alexandrian library.

Ancient Greece is the cradle European civilization, all her achievements are fundamentally connected with the ideas and images of ancient Greek culture. The culture of Ancient Greece contained the origins of all subsequent achievements of European culture in the field of philosophy, natural sciences, literature, and art. Many branches of modern science grew out of the works of ancient Greek scientists and philosophers.

The following researchers of antiquity and antiquity are usually classified as researchers of ancient culture: philosopher A.F. Losev history of ancient aesthetics, ancient space and modern science, essays on ancient symbolism and mythology. G.S. Knabe (section on the ancient polis, features of polis consciousness, the influence of antiquity on Russian culture). Taho-Godi studied mythology. Andre Bonnard described the influence of the geographical factor on the characteristics of ancient culture.

Definition of the term "antiquity"

Antiquity- this is a term that comes from the words - anticus in translation - ancient text, a term coined during the Renaissance by Italian humanists to refer to Greco-Roman culture.

Antiquity is usually understood as the totality of ancient Greek and Roman culture. At the moment, the term antiquity is understood as a combination of ancient Greek and ancient Russian culture. Historians note that the basis for the unity of ancient Greek and Roman culture can be polis consciousness (the result of similar state political forms - polis).

Polis generates special type consciousness - polis consciousness, the polis consists of different groups of landowners, the administrative apparatus, the court, the army are formed, but all positions are elective, the key to the survival of such a collective is the patriotism of each person, the highest duty is to remain faithful to understand the value of the polis society and, if necessary, bring oneself to sacrifice. A citizen of a policy is always a landowner.

Basic features of polis consciousness

1. Every citizen is aware of the importance of freedom and has significant freedoms.

2. A person must put personal interests below the interests of the entire policy, only then can he be considered a useful member of society.

General characteristics of the concept of antiquity

Cosmos is a concept about the world that arose in the era of antiquity. Space is not only the world, the universe, space is order that opposes chaos. Due to beauty and orderliness.

As Losev notes, space for ancient man acts as a kind of absolute; space has nowhere to move; all space is occupied by itself, which is why absolute cosmologism developed in ancient culture. The ancient gods rule the cosmos, because... they are the laws of nature, all the shortcomings and all the advantages that exist in man are also in nature and therefore in the gods.

2. The idea of ​​rock, fate, Ananke (rock, destiny, inevitability), since ananke dominates life, then even heroes cannot resist fate, the idea of ​​fate does not make a person passive, they are not prone to passive fatalism

They are highly inclined to exercise freedom of choice, thereby becoming a hero.

The feeling of fatal dependence gives rise to the tragedy of the worldview; it is the wrong side of the harmonious “Apollonian” culture. The idea of ​​clarity, harmony, and “Apollinity” was developed in the works of historians of the 18th and 19th centuries. Schiller, Goethe. The tragedy of world communication was first discovered by Friedrich Nietzsche “The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music”

3. Anthropocentrism- this is the understanding that man is at the center of the world, he is part of the universe, part of the world. The most important aesthetic principle that forms the ideal of a person is kalokagathia (the cult of harmony between an impeccable body and the inner world of a person)

The body must be strengthened by physical exercise, and the soul by poetry, dancing, and music.

4. The idea of ​​competition or Agon's principle.

Competitiveness permeates all spheres of human activity; competition existed not only in civil but also in artistic life. In culture, for example, the Olympic Games (the film by L. Riefenstahl “Olympia 1938 first shots”). Demonstration of the birth of a new type of Aryan that is associated with antiquity (Greco-Roman man), theatrical competitions - two protagonists (main actors), the struggle of playwrights, philosophical disputes, perhaps dialectics today.

5. Celebration and spectacle in ancient culture

Holidays dedicated to certain gods. For example, the Dionysian Mysteries. Baiting of animals, gladiator fights, the theater of antiquity - everything is natural and natural in size ==> “bread and circuses”. Rome is rough, but Greece is sophisticated in terms of entertainment. Circles move in the theater, everything came from there. They dressed up a peasant, and he played the role, walked around, then was eaten by a real beast - the audience hooted.

Periodization of ancient culture:

1. Creto-Mecken (Aegean) period - 3 thousand - 1 thousand years BC)

It existed on the islands of Crete, Ferra, and the islands of the Kiklatsky archipelago. On the Balkan Peninsula.

Mainland Greece (Mycenae, Tiryns, Epilos) city of Troy. It flourished in 2 thousand BC. Moreover, her contribution, this culture becomes an important link between the culture of the Ancient East and Greek culture itself; at the turn of 3-2 thousand, a state was formed on the island of Crete for the first time in Europe and the centers of Knossos Fest and Malia emerged

In the 16th century BC it was destroyed by an earthquake

2. Homeric period (11-8 centuries BC),

The name of the period comes from the name of Homer, because his poems Odyssey and Iliad are the main sources of our information about this period; they give an idea of ​​​​the life, customs, clothing of the people of that period.

The main population of Greece of that period were peasant settlers, the settlements were communal in nature. Architecture was born, which was preserved only in ruins. This architecture is a kind of processing of Mycenaean architecture.

The so-called “Homeric question” occupies an important place. In the history of world culture, starting from the 18th century, there has been debate about the existence of Homer. There are 2 points of view:

1) This is a fictional character

2) This is a real living person

But the most correct point of view is that Homer, which in translation means adjuster, adding one thing to another.

By the end of the 8th century BC. the prerequisites for a cultural revolution arose, which will explain the phenomenon of the “Greek miracle”

3. Archaic period (VII-VI centuries BC).

1) Population stratification. Landowners appear, but most of them are communal peasants; in the future, this will lead to the formation of 2 classes: slaves and slaveholders. Slaves were captives and peasants who became dependent, slave owners were large artisans and merchants

2) City-states with different forms of government are emerging: oligarchy (led by several rich people), democracy and tyranny (rule of one)

3) urban growth, therefore, expansion of construction

During this period, maritime trade, shipbuilding, navigation,

Term "antiquity" comes from the Latin word antiquus - ancient. It is customary to refer to a special period in the development of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as those lands and peoples that were under their cultural influence. Chronological framework: from the XI-IX centuries. BC, the time of the formation of ancient society in Greece and until the 5th AD. - the death of the Roman Empire under the blows of the barbarians.

The oldest period is the Kritomeken culture (Crete and Meken). The main monuments were residential buildings and the Knossos palace. The first archaeologist Arthur Evans.

Features of culture:

Absence of a rigid canon, independence from religion, desire for luxury and comfort

The art is distinguished by its dynamics, pictorial and lighting effects, and rich imagination.

Subject – Marine theme, Flora and fauna, palace life, life

Lack of monumentality, symmetry and rigor

The palace occupied several blocks, hence the legend of the labyrinth and the minotaur due to the abundance of rooms. Frescoes decorated the walls of the palace, and they show the continuity of cultures.

Mythology:

Information about Greek mythology has reached us in a huge number of monuments of written literature (art and philosophical works. The main sources for the study of Greek mythology are Homer’s epic tales “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, as well as Hesiod’s poem “Theogony”. Stories about metamorphoses - the transformations of people in animals, plants or inanimate objects(for example, Hyacinth and Narcissus - into flowers, Arachne - into a spider, etc.). Cosmogonic myths appear to be significantly developed, which are built on the scheme of evolution: the world process begins with Chaos - the primary, primordial, formless state of the Universe.

There is no clear answer to the question of the origin of people. According to one myth, the creator of man was the titan Prometheus. The gods do not act as creators of the world or man. The cultural heroes are gods, titans and other semi-divine beings. Thus, the goddess Athena was credited with introducing the culture of the olive tree, Dionysus with viticulture and winemaking, Hermes with the invention of weights and measures, numbers and writing, etc. Nothing human is alien to them, immortality is the only quality that distinguishes gods from people in the eyes of a believing Greek.

The religious consciousness of the Greeks is characterized by polytheism, which manifested itself in the veneration of the gods of the Olympic pantheon (the Greeks believed that the gods, led by Zeus, the thunderer, lived on Mount Olympus). Distinctive features of Greek religion are also the idea of ​​the universal animation of nature (every natural phenomenon, every river, mountain, grove had its own deity) and anthropomorphism. Each temple was served by one priest, who was elected by the people's assembly. The only duty of the priests was to perform rituals, the main of which was sacrifice to the deity.

Muses:(daughters of Zeus) Kalitope - epic poetry, Euterpe - lyrical poetry and music, Melpomene - tragedy, Thalia - comedy, Erato - love poetry, Polyhymnia rhetoric, Terpsichore - dance, Clio - history, Urania - philosophy.

Types of arts:

Literary genres

Epic (Homer “Iliad”, “Odyssey”)

Lyrics (Sappho)

Tragedy(Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides)

Ancient Greek drama (action). Basic elements: action, dialogue, chorus. Origins – the cult of the earth. By the 6th century the cult of the god Dionysus, winemaking. A dithyramb is a solemn chant of the choir and soloist. Tragedy came from it.

Aeschylus was a contemporary of the Greco-Persian wars, a tragedian. He portrayed a person as he should be. The Persians, Prometheus, and Seven Against Thebes have survived to this day. Sophocles wrote more than 120 works, 7 have survived, written based on mythology: “King Edith”, “Antigone”, “Electra”. Euripides "Medea", "Andromache", "Hercules".

Comedy(Aristophanes) came from funny songs dedicated to the cult of the earth. In comedy, dialogue is an argument. Bright and funny costumes were worn not only by the heroes, but also by the choir. “Frogs”, “Wasps”, “Clouds”, “Women in the National Assembly”. All performances took place in the form of competitions. They looked like political debates. Appointed joreg(sponsor). He had to pay for the production, the premises, the actors. Three actors, three poets and three choreographers competed. The best were chosen from among them.

History (Herodotus, Thucyditus, Xenophon)

Philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)

Rhetoric (Demosthenes, Lycurgus)

Philosophy– love of wisdom, a term from Pythagoras. Everyone strived for wisdom. Philosophy is the cradle of many scientific disciplines. Directions:

Nathuphilosophical– problems of nature, space, the origin of the world and man (Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Zeno)

Humanistic– the problem of man and his life in society (Socrates)

Theoretical– the main problems and laws of philosophy are formulated (Plato, Aristotle)

Hellenistic– from the conquest of Alexander the Great, the synthesis of Greek and Eastern culture, the problem of morality

Religious– the time of coexistence of Christianity and philosophical schools (Plotinus)